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I'd agree with Verd, Sara although I'd look at what you want for round the pond edges and the surrounding area and get a few things in there if you can - especially the early flowering ones like Caltha. They'll get going before the winter and give things a lift in the late winter/early spring . It gives you time over winter to browse pond plant catalogues and buy far more than you'll need as well...

Whatever you decide to do Sara it'll be great. A pond of any size or type is such an asset. The blanket weed thing is always a bit of an issue but as long as you have some oxygenators, some floating plants (water lilies etc) and prevent as much debris as possible from getting into it the balance will come. Straw is a good help in a big pond. If you intend having fish- overfeeding creates a lot of gunk for algae to feed on- so my one bit of advice if you want them would be- less is more! Pix of your progress would be lovely.

Sara-don't worry about the trees. At my last house we had a huge pond which had a conifer hedge running along one edge and quite a few trees along another. They provided a bit of shade from sun at the hottest part of the day. They provide lots of cover for animals and birds too. You'll have loads of scope there for a beautiful feature.

If you can get a net in place to catch leaves it'll help but frankly - in a big pond it's not feasible anyway. As you say- a bit of debris isn't the end of the world. We removed a fair bit of waste that had built up as the previous owners overfed the fish but it would have been impossible to clear it and keep it that way. There was a huge amount of resident wildlife in the pond and we improved it a good bit by making a beached edge etc and renovating the banks. It was very rewarding. In the smaller pond it fed into, we used watercress for the blanket weed which cleared it beautifully. It's hard work creating a pond Sara but I'm sure you won't be disappointed when it's completed.

Sara if you want to stop it becoming stagnant dig a bog garden out for excess rainwater to run in to.

I did this on mine and it worked brilliantly. I had no filters, pumps or anything. I just dug a shallow basin like hole about 3/4 ft in diameter put pond liner in the bottom with a few holes, planted it with marginal plants and topped it with gravel. I made sure my pond dipped slightly in that direction and did a sort of pebbly beech effect. Made steps there into the pond to put some big stones on and plants could sit on the ledges too. Worked out great for frogs etc. as the could easily get in and out and they also used that area to spawn as the fish didn't like to go into the shallows around there.

Oh ok I'll shut up then lol. Would love to show you pics but they are all on hard drive that son took to uni. He has promised me he will put on cd for me but still waiting!!!! My camera broke this year so til I get new one can't take any either

The reason they were put on an external hard drive is because my old but faithful computer could'nt handle them all! Its not just my garden on there its all the gardens i work in and have ever worked in....not sure how many days it would take to email them all and computer would probably explode lol.

You sound as if you you have planned it quite well which is more than I did I just made it up as I went along!

LOL I feel your pain Sara (insert cuddle smiley) Sometimes you can overload on information and everyone has different advice but I am sure it will all work out in the end and look amazing My pond was a puddle compared to what you are doing lol.

Take a look at 'building a wildlife pond' on u tube. Opened my eyes for sure - having bulit a 3,500 gal Koi pond with filters and the whole shebang at my previous property many years ago was still not happy - glimpses of liner are a no no. So - having just built a garden and pond in Cornwall I took care to ensure no liner would ever show and it would look as 'natural' as possible....

'Dry' stone walling on the shelving is the key ..... and then another dry stone wall and yet another to finish.... trust me its the only way.... but not cheap... I did it myself and it took 3 weeks 'fiddling' here and there to get it right for me.... a more modest 10' x 6' x 2' deep 'wildlife pond' (with a few small comet goldfish that the guv insisted on....) - hence not a real wildlife pond but I will watch with interest as to what takes residence....

'Dry stone walling' is not an over optimistic title' - provided its done properly - and scruffy is not a problem as long as it looks 'natural' - something a 'new dry' river would have 'left behind' as it were..... I've tried to do something similar in my little front garden (its a new build property on a small 'estate' of similar) - and to me less is more - so easy to overdo it..... keep it minimal is the way for me....

I needed several cubic yards of soil to shape a new drive bank entrance, so I now have a ~12' diameter by 2' deep hole in the garden. Over winter and maybe by next spring I will have a pond. I bought a small glass fibre pond on ebay for a header tank into which I will run the rain-water from a downpipe, this will "appear" to run down a stream and into the new hole. At least that's the plan. Always had a pond in another garden but never this large. Main problems are the slope in the garden, and the flints in the soil and protecting the liner. Lots of old carpet and sand I think.

If you buy plants now Sara get a good deal. Nuseries can't get rid of them quick enough this time of the year, but don't expect them to grow. I am going to wait until early spring or just sit plants bought now in tubs etc. Don't pull plants apart now, the roots won't like it. Tub- trugs are great for storing wet pots in with the minimum protection over winter. They won't need any light if no leaves. Or for marginals just drop them in the edge of the pond as you buy them, and lift and pot properly in spring.

Hmmm as I suspected - not what I wanted. I cant find the gallery to upload to for this website. It won't upload photos from the 'tree icon' here either so I resorted to photobucket but am still struggling.....